Earlier this summer, Clay Jenkinson traveled to the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers at Cairo, Illinois. Sitting on the banks of the Mississippi, Clay read from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and talked about the novel and its author, Mark Twain, who enshrined this mighty river deep in American mythology. 
A statute of Lewis and Clark and the expedition's
Clay checks in from St. Charles, Missouri, near the mouth of the Missouri River, at Frontier Park, on one of the finest Lewis and Clark statue groups in America.
Clay reports on his visit to the remote Montana site where Lewis and Clark had their only fatal encounter with Native Americans on their historic 1804-1806 expedition.
Aerial view of Clay, Nolan and Brian's
When I began to plan for my 2025 retracing of the Lewis and Clark expedition, hauling an Airstream from Jefferson’s Virginia across the country to Astoria, Oregon, I realized I was planning a paradox.
Screenshot of Clay, Frank, Dennis
Clay and his Listening to America “Corps of Discovery” celebrate the 4th of July along the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Clay at the Missouri River just east of Great Falls, MT. In the background is Belt Creek, where the Lewis and Clark Expedition began their 18.5-mile, one-month portage around the five falls of the Missouri River in June/July of 1805.

At Great Falls, Montana

I’m spending the 4th of July at the Great Falls of the Missouri River in north-central Montana, where Lewis and Clark visited on the same day in 1805.
The art of listening and genuine communication to a thriving democracy.
Meriwether Lewis at work on his journals. The renowned explorer was frustratingly inconsistent in keeping an ongoing record of his historic journey across the continent. (Illustration created by Clay Jenkinson using the AI tool Chat GPT)
Following the path of Meriwether Lewis, Clay notes that while the famous explorer could be an outstanding journal writer, he was frustratingly unreliable in keeping a daily account of his transcontinental travels. No known journals exist for about half of the 28-month expedition.
Registering the new pickup truck. This, too, is America.
Clay Jenkinson Book Club
You can learn more about our LTA Book Club in this short video dispatch from Clay. Be sure to join our first zoom meeting for book club members on July 10, 2025. 4:30…
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